Even with all the scattered storms happening in the area, we had a pretty busy weekend and we are going to have a short-exhausting week leading to our long weekend in Lake Placid. This Friday, we went to the pool and the kids enjoyed jumping on the trampoline for the first time after swimming. Last to say was that they were very tired and even slept until 7:30am the next morning (holy molly!). Enjoy watching the short video above we put together, just for fun!

Clafoutis aux cerises

Saturday we went back to the pool with our friends/neighbors. We spent the morning and evening cooking, cleaning and organizing stuff, all while the kids where sleeping - there's always something to do!
Sunday, we headed to Central Park with the Apero-Blog group where rain came and pushed us to cut everything short. At least, we had time to enjoy Arben's cherry clafoutis, catch up with friends and meet new people like Lucie's family who we hope to see again on the Jersey side!

So after this very busy weekend (and since we'll have many more like this, we better be ready!), let me tell you that we are very tired and that we're just going to enjoy a quiet Sunday evening with Dexter - thanks Céline for reminding us the new season was starting tonight!

After an aggravating (to say the least) passage through the airport, we've finally boarded. The United French crew was very welcoming, a big change from the outbound flight! We get to our seat, there's a mother and her teenage daughter sitting in our row. They spent a few days in Paris to celebrate her graduation. I forewarn them of eventual incidents while Lorik plays with the touchscreen. This time around, I'm a bit more prepared to face any unforeseen events. The courtesy bag is right where it's supposed to be, a large ziploc in my side pocket, water and wipes nearby.
All in all, he was good on the way back, even when it came to the diaper change challenge. He was sleeping for a few hours already when we touched ground in Newark. He woke up after the landing and was pumped up, only for a little while though...

A couple rows behind, mommy was flying with Amy. She slept for a good 3hrs after take off which was great as I watched Oz, which wasn't so great after all... After she woke up, the hard part started. She wanted to do everything: eat, play, doodle, play with the screen, walk up and down the middle aisle alone because of course it's more fun. She really drove me mad for the last 2hrs of the flight. She wouldn't stay calm or sleep and finally went down 15min before landing!
Once out the plane, we had to wait for our stroller which resulted in us being at the tail end of a very long line at the immigration, even in the permanent resident/citizen one... After a good half-hour, maybe 45min, an officer let us go through past 5 people and then the questions were not even questions but more small talk about haircuts and kids...
Our luggage were here so we made up the time to meet David who drove us back home. It took 2-3 days/nights for the kids to readjust to their cycle and the return was exhausting, more than the flight in.

Today was the 15 months visit, only one shot as we did the other two before going to France in May. Lorik was, as always, scared of the doctor's office, the nurses and the doc himself, so he spent the entire visit crying. Difficult to talk while you have a screaming child but I managed to ask a couple questions:
- Do they eat enough? Yes and they're growing fine. Lorik grew 2.5in and took 2.5lbs since the last visit 3 months ago and now weighs 19.9lbs and measures 32.5in. As for Amy she grew 1.5in and took 1.5lbs since the 12 months check up. She now weighs 18.9lbs and measures 31.5in. We see who enjoyed most of the French food!
- Is that ok for them to snack in between meals? We already have a 3:30pm snack but most of the time, they ask for more food in the morning and before that snack, mostly if they see somebody else eat or if I'm in the kitchen cooking (yeah that happens sometimes). Doc says it's fine, they're not big kids, as long as it's healthy they can have a couple of snacks.
- How should they sleep? I'm always scared that they're going to be cold during the night so they sleep in t-shirt, shorts and a light aden+anais sleepsack. The room temperature is set at 75F and can't go higher with the AC but it can go down in the middle of the night. I don't want them to feel a big difference when they go out so our apt is set on 75F in every room during the "summer". Doc says it might be a little warm but it's ok.

The only question I couldn't ask was about their nap time and if I should have a strict schedule. They usually go to sleep from noon to 2pm and I'm wondering if it's ok if from time to time they don't sleep at that time. What do you think?

Besides that, they both are getting their molars so they're very cranky and getting sick more often. They even refuse to chew sometimes so I'm mixing food again. Amy had a fever for 4 days and 3 nights, she now has laryngitis which will go away on its own. She also has an ingrown nail at her big toe which I'm treating with ointment and hydrogen peroxyde. Lorik has a cough and very sensitive skin - his dad's beard gives him red patches - he's blond with white skin so we ought to be careful with his fragile skin. They're both walking - Lorik JUST started letting go of the hand and finally walking on his own. They also start talking and babbling a few words in French. They understand everything we tell them and sometimes even if they do, they won't listen. The last news? Amy imitates a dog when we ask her too, of course that was before she lost her voice (see video above).
Have a great weekend all!

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Suite à nos quelques jours dans le Vercors, nous sommes descendus à Bourg-de-Péage, chez ma maman aka maminou. Première partie en mode préparation de la fête de dimanche en espérant qu'il ne fera pas froid et qu'il ne pleuvera pas. Un peu de stress, les courses, la mise en place, avec des petits dans les pattes qui ne voulaient pas se détacher de moi. Heureusement il a fait beau, quelques petites gouttes, l'apéro, la bouffe, les gâteaux, tout était extra et les loulous ont été encore une fois bien gâtés pour leur anniversaire!
Following our few days up in Vercors, we stayed at my mom's in Bourg-de-Péage. The first half was a little bit stressful with the birthday preparations taking place on Sunday. We really wished for sun and no rain as it was all we had since we arrived, except for one day. I spent the first few days running, taking care of the kids who wouldn't let go of me. The party on Sunday, also Mother's Day in France (as well as Choup's birthday), went great and the weather was awesome. Kids got a lot of stuff, as usual, and they had a lot of fun with their new friends they met!

La dernière semaine de notre séjour était remplie de visites. Nous sommes allés à Lyon voir ma Mamy, à la Sône pour voir mon autre Mamy qui avait fait ses quenelles, rôties de pigeon, gâteau de foie, bugnes et flan que les petits ont pris plaisir à manger! On est aussi allés voir Tonton John à Tournon. Puis, juste au moment où les petits commençaient à être à l'aise avec tout le monde, il a fallu rentrer chez nous! Résultat des courses, on s'est pas du tout reposés!
Our last week was all about visits. We went up to Lyon to see my Grandmother, we went to my other Grandmother's house where the kids had pigeon, quenelles for the first time (and they loved it) and we went to see John a couple of times too. It was at the end that I was able to leave the kids alone with Maminou so I could run some errands in the morning and take care of other things.

Chez Mamy de Lyon

Chez Mamy Quiqui

4 générations...

C'est bon la rôtie????

Amy et sa cive... fallait surtout pas lui enlever!

Il a bien fallu refaire les valises, faire attention à ce que le vin soit bien protégé. Evidemment, on a ramené quelques kilos en trop mais c'est passé à l'enregistrement...
Then came the packing, that wasn't easy as we really had too much stuff to bring back and had an extra few pounds to carry back home...

Once landed in Paris CDG, we made a quick stop in Pantin to meet with the W's twins. Our littles ones hung on until noon when they crashed for a very short nap and we left for Gare de Lyon to take our 2pm train down to Valence, Drôme. From there, we drove for an hour to La Chapelle en Vercors, at Grandpa's house. There we gave a well-deserved bath to our padawans, fed them and they went to bed without a fuss (the only time during our stay...) at 7:30pm, exhausted from their very long day!

À la gare, des pains au chocolat

Le lendemain, la maman de Choup et son frère nous avaient rejoint de Montauban. On en a donc profité pour souffler la première bougie des padawans et boire une petite coupette de champagne!
The next day, Choup's mom and brother joined us from Montauban. We celebrated Amy&Lorik's first birthday together with chocolate cake and champagne!

Lundi 20, il faisait beau, pas trop chaud alors on est sorti profiter du soleil et voir les poules de GrandPa. Les padawans ont d'ailleurs mangé leur premier oeuf frais à la coque, un régal!
Monday was a beautiful day to be outside (and the only one) so we went out to show the hens to the kids who picked up their first fresh egg which they ate "à la coque" for the first time, delicious!

Les jours qui ont suivi étaient mauvais, du coup, on a glandouillé. Il y avait des bras pour s'occuper d'eux donc j'en ai profité pour m'échapper un peu parce que dès qu'ils me voyaient ils ne voulaient que moi...
The weather was bad for the following days so we did pretty much nothing, except eat and drink. There were plenty of people to keep our padawans busy so I had time to rest a little, but didn't get to read much of the stuff I brought...

On a bien mangé et bu, comme d'habitude (pour plus de photos c'est par ici)! As you'll see below, we ate and drank, a lot (for more pictures go here)!

Jeudi 23, on est ensuite descendu chez ma maman à Bourg de Péage et on vous racontera la suite dans un prochain billet!
On Thursday 23, we drove down to Bourg de Péage, to my mom's house where we stayed until the end of our trip and we'll tell you all about it next time!

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Ici, on va parler de toutes ces bonnes choses qui ont émoustillées nos papilles lors de notre séjour en France. De la bonne cuisine maison, frisant la perfection par moment! Ceux et celles qui nous suivent sur instagram là et là et/ou Facebook ont pu apprécier en live ces moments gastronomiques. Comme avant chaque repas l'apéro était obligatoire, normal on est en France. S'en suivaient donc:
Here, we'll let you know about all the great food we ate during our trip to France. Some traditional recipes that are close to perfect and so delicious, it makes you want to have more. Those who follow us on instagram here and there and/our Facebook were able to see all the great meals we had. And If you didn't, here's a recap:

Quenelles maison et gâteau de foie (de lapin) / No translation but you can find the recipe here

Pigeon

Côté desserts, c'était pas mal non plus:

Bugnes

iFlan

Les loulous ont adoré la cuisine des maîtresses de maison et j'avoue que c'était un réel plaisir de les voir manger avec autant d'appétit. Surtout Lorik qui était en mode pelleteuse la plupart du temps! Alors évidemment, ce n'était pas aussi copieux tous les jours, on a tout de même mangé du vert histoire de se donner bonne conscience.
Our little ones loved everything and it was a great pleasure to see them enjoy all the food they got to discover while in France. Lorik was picking up everything so quickly that it was as if he hadn't eaten in 3 days! We of course ate some greens, a little, just to say we did.

Once back from France, I kept our little ones home to reset them on their regular schedule. I was home alone with them all day, daddy was working and home in the evening to help me out with the chores. But the little ones decided that they didn't want him, they only wanted mommy to feed them and care for them at night when they were waking up. Good thing they went back to sleeping through the night after 2 nights, I couldn't have handled more, being jet-lagged myself and over-tired from caring for them all day.

The good thing is that I was able to do all the loads of laundry, clean, cook, sort clothes, etc with them following me everywhere I was going. The days were long and I had to keep them busy and entertained as well as deal with some anxiety phases that they were having pretty much both at the same time. It most likely came from the trip and the fact that they were disoriented, jet-lagged and it faded after a couple of days. It was hard to deal with them both and when they wanted to be picked up at the same time I couldn't really do it for a long time as 2x20lbs is a little bit too much for me to carry around for a long time! Therefore, I spent most of my days on the ground, playing with them and trying to soothe them with stuffed animals or other toys. I gave them some of their new birthday toys that they got in March and that I kept in the closet, and there's more to come!

When we were in France, they got some bad habits like watching Curious George during every meal (it used to be only at breakfast, once they were finished) or walk with someone for Lorik and not with the walker anymore or screaming when Amy wants something. I hope that once they're back to daycare on Tuesday, it will all go back to normal! Talking about daycare, we're actually going to move them to a new one, a Montessori School that I visited during my week alone with them. It's right across the street, it's very nice and I really want them to start learning and their program works for us. They'll most likely be there by Fall and will go 4 days a week instead of 3.

Needless to say that I was very tired after this long week. I'm very lucky to have a great hubby who took care of them Saturday AND Sunday mornings so I could sleep in (if they don't see me, daddy can take over, normal, no?). It was a good thing since he has a business trip this week so I'll be completely alone with them until Friday, oh boy!
When is our next vacation???